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DIY Scrolling LED Business Cards Miss Point of Business Cards, Still Cool
Posted by Kit Eaton at 11:45 PM on September 3, 2008
Over at Instructables is this DIY project that will let you make your own slender electronic business cards with built-in LED display. They're pretty cool, displaying a number of different scrolling data messages at the push of a button, and apparently cost just about US$5 per card. The "slender" description means you'll have to be good at soldering surface-mount components, though. To me it's a cool project that will impress people, but kinda misses the point of business cards: easily disseminating your contact info. An LCD QR-code business card— now that's something I'd fancy. Head over to Instructables if you've got the LED maker-urge. [Instructables]
Apple/AT&T customer William Gillis was unhappy with the performance of his iPhone 3G. So he filed a lawsuit. But what's unique in this case is that the lawsuit isn't complaining just that the iPhone 3G is underperforming, but that the iPhone 3G is underperforming because it's been consciously oversold in a plot by AT&T and Apple.
There's really nothing great that can be done with Styrofoam other than not produce it in the first place, but in lieu of recycling it or throwing it away, one man and his son, inspired by 
I mean, come on. Look at these two. Dr. Who Sonic vs Laser Screwdrivers? Dr. Who? When was the last time you travelled back in time? Hello? How hard is to actually go to an online sex-shop and anonymously order the real thing? They come in the same brown cardboard UPS package, do we really have to pretend this is a collector's item? Look at them again, up close, read the specs, and then you tell me:
Sikorsky, makers of the Blackhawk and other sleek helicopters, have successfully tested their X2 Technology Demonstrator, a prototype designed to showcase new propulsion systems that will allow their helicopters to fly at twice the speed of conventional ones. And it looks sci-fi pretty too, even more so from the front:
Navigon recently popped up with a 
Always ahead of the curve, Japanese communication companies are deploying smart posters for a test drive in a Chiba shopping mall. The posters will use Near Field Communication technology to send information like images, music and movie clips to mobile phones over the air, all with no need to establish any kind of pairing.
Nokia's much rumoured, much anticipated 
This Bendiboard Retroboard Invaders is a flexible roll-up rubber keyboard adorned with those famous pixellated alien Space Invaders. It's bendy, it's got aliens, it's got a space key depicting a laser gun-base. You can spill coffee on it safely if you get a little energetic in your gaming, and it's US$40. Enough said, because I can't think of a way of writing the Space Invaders sound effects down as text. [
Sony's just come up with the software development kit for the 
Sony has had a little splurge of Blu-ray action, and come up with six new models of BDR-recorders/players that also sport hard drives which can record HD video. The T-series, BDZ-T55 and BDZ-T75 are the basic models, with 320GB hard drives, BD Live and memory-card ports and DLNA (on the T75). The L-series models BDZ-L55 and BDZ-L95 have 320GB and 500GB drives respectively, and a HDV 1080i/DV input, and 2 USB sockets for connecting digital cams to. The top-end X-series BDZ-X95 and BDZ-X100 models have 500GB and 1TB of drive room, Sony's Cross Media bar GUI and the new Digital Reality Creation - Multi Function version 3 chip. Full specs below.
Buffalo has come up with a new network accessible storage system which not only hangs onto up to 4TB of your files but is also Time Machine and iPhone compatible. OK, so this last bit is over a dedicated web access system and the phone can't save the files, but it can view the contents of music, photo and video files. The LS-QL/R5's 13 x 18 x 22cm box can fit in up to four 3.5-inch drives, has a RAID-5 option, Gigabit Ethernet, a DLNA server and is due in late September for US$560 for a 1TB version, around US$710 for 2TB and US$1,300 for 4TB. [
While some have been sceptical of the D90's video recording as 
The BlackJack II (SGH-i617) finally gets its turn to ride the Windows Mobile 6.1 bus, which brings to it slight UI changes, better SMS threading, improved GPS navigation and internet connection sharing. There's little reason why you shouldn't get it, so download it now and join the 6.1 club. [
Wired's Danger Room blog is spot on in comparing Northrop Grumman's upcoming 
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have demonstrated a device that can create touchable, creepily invisible floating "objects" using focused ultrasound waves. Though the technology is early testing stages, its designers have already expressed an interest in weaponi- I mean, commercialising it for possible use in gaming and design applications. For now, the team has only been able to simulate resistance in one direction, but say that forming complex shapes and textures is plausible.
The upcoming Star Trek reboot by J.J. Abrams has a lot going for it, from interesting choices in actors (John Cho, Simon Pegg and even a cameo by the son of James Doohan, the original Scotty), to updated special effects and concepts. What we're interested in are all the gadgets, from phasers to tricorders and even the ship itself.
Project Inkwell's Spark is not only a potential OLPC competitor because of it's handheld, UMPC form factor and K-12 educational focus, but also because it doesn't look like it's made exclusively for the preschool user base. The Spark was developed in conjunction with the design firm Ideo, and though details are vague, the visuals are somewhat revealing. The Spark looks roughly the size of a PSP, with a +/- rocker switch and scroll wheel adorning the left and right sides of the handheld.
You have probably heard stories about patient injuries or death occurring when someone introduces a heavy metal object into the same room as an MRI machine. Obviously, we are talking about some seriously powerful magnets here. However, the US$10 million magnet currently under construction at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida is expected to reach 100 tesla when finished—about 67 times more powerful than a typical MRI machine.
What do you do when you want to show that your phone is tough? If you're Rollei, you put a picture of Chuck Norris on the front. That's right, a camera with Chuck Norris in fighting stance on the front. One of the features of this camera is that instead of smiling, all of your subjects will have looks of fear and intimidation on their faces. [
For many enthusiasts, pimping out car sound systems (and even 
Nintendo's tried-and-true strategy for jolting hardware sales that aren't white hot (aside 
Giz pick of the week: Transformers (Two Disc Special Edition)
If you've dedicated your life to electronics rather than the gym, 
The news about 